When Texas A&M introduced short answer questions to their application in 2020, many students felt panicked. Applications are already writing-intensive, so the thought of even more required writing was an overwhelming prospect.
It is helpful to remember that these short answer questions are intended to benefit students. How? By giving them more opportunities to show why they should be an Aggie.
GENERAL TIPS FOR RESPONDING TO SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Short answers offer one more opportunity for application reviewers to get to know you. It sounds obvious, but the first piece of advice is: answer the question! It's important to keep in mind that these are not trick questions. Texas A&M is asking students exactly what they want to know. Students should read the question carefully and be sure they're addressing it with relevant and specific information.
- Answer every part of the question. Some of these prompts are more like two prompts in one, as in the Diversity prompt (discussed at greater length below): “Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for you personally and for the Texas A&M campus community.” Notice how there are really two questions here: one about the student’s personal relationship to diversity and one about the importance of diversity and inclusion at A&M more broadly. Students should outline their answers in order to ensure that they are responding to every part of the question.
- Be succinct. Students should use illustrative examples where appropriate, but they can save their creative juices for Essay A. The short answers are about providing information to the admissions readers that they could not get from the student’s resume, transcript, or test scores alone. The typical length of a strong short answer is about two paragraphs, or around 250-300 words.
These answers may be short, but that doesn’t mean they are trivial. These questions offer students an important chance to make a positive impression on the admissions committee by highlighting their distinctive qualities, accomplishments, values, and why they believe they would be a great fit at Texas A&M.
You can find more specific information about this year’s Texas A&M short answer questions below.
REQUIRED SHORT ANSWER 1: DIVERSITY
Short Answer Prompt
Texas A&M University believes that diversity is an important part of academic excellence and that it is essential to living our core values (loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, respect, and selfless service). Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for you personally and for the Texas A&M campus community.
Diversity is a broad term, so before students start writing, they should think about all of its implications. Diversity can include race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and cultural beliefs, socioeconomic background, immigration status, physical disabilities, and neurological differences, among many other aspects of identity. Students should also consider the other key term in this question: inclusion. Diversity is one thing, but any environment needs to be inclusive (accepting and encouraging of diversity) in order to allow all different kinds of people to thrive within a community.
Once they've taken a step back, it's time to focus on the two parts of the prompt:
Part 1: Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for you personally
Part 2: and for the Texas A&M campus community.
First, they'll need to zoom in to their personal experiences: What kinds of diverse communities have they been a part of? How have those communities helped them? How did they personally grow from their experiences within those communities? They can keep those values that A&M describes (loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, respect, and selfless service) top of mind while they brainstorm.
Next, students need to think about why it’s important for a college community to be both diverse and inclusive. As a thought experiment, students can imagine themselves in an environment with people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs. In what ways will that make their college experience richer—both inside and outside the classroom?
As students write, they should cite personal examples from their own lives. They only have 250-300 words, but that should be enough for a quick anecdote. And if a student doesn't come from a diverse background, they can use this space to talk about why it's important for them to be part of a diverse culture on campus and how it will help them grow.
Students may also want to consult A&M’s own statement on the diversity page of their website:
“We define diversity as the inclusion and support of individuals from all groups, encompassing the various characteristics of people in our community. Diversity is the exploration of differences, identities, and ideas in a welcoming and nurturing academic environment. The educational benefits of diverse learning environments includes: civic learning, engagement, and preparation to live in complex global settings.”
REQUIRED SHORT ANSWER 2: LIFE EVENT
Short Answer Prompt
Describe a life event which you feel has prepared you to be successful in college.
As with the first short answer question, you might think of this question as having two parts as well. First, it asks students to recount a single event or experience, and second, it asks them to reflect on how it has prepared them for college success. The student’s answer does not need to follow a two-part structure, but it is crucial that both parts of this answer (the anecdote and the reflection) be included.
What kind of life event should students choose to write about? In making this decision, students should think about the goal of their essay. Like the other two short answer questions, this one allows admissions readers to get a deeper understanding of the student’s context and life experiences. Students should focus on a life event that offers readers at least one of the following things:
- an understanding of how the student approaches opportunities and/or setbacks
- insight into the kinds of challenges the student has faced, or of an obstacle the student has overcome
- a sense of the student’s character and strengths
Students may choose to recount a story of accomplishment, but they can also use this question to reflect upon a less positive experience and how they have learned or grown as a result of it. Whether they write about triumphs or tribulations, they should be sure to answer the second part of the question: how has this event prepared them to be successful in college (whatever “success” might mean to them personally)?
Remember that this short answer should not overlap with the student’s Essay A. It should discuss a different event than any outlined in that personal statement, and it should offer different insights about the student’s personality, maturity, and values.
REQUIRED SHORT ANSWER 3: KEY PERSON
Short Answer Prompt
Tell us about a person who has most impacted your life and why.
Some students are daunted by the challenge of choosing a person who has most impacted their life. How to choose just one person? Our advice is not to get overwhelmed, but instead to select a person whose impact the student can both: a) illustrate with specific examples; and b) reflect on in a thoughtful and illuminating way. Keep in mind that specific examples are always more interesting to a reader than vague generalizations. The student’s aim is to paint a vivid picture of this person, so that the reader can appreciate this person’s influence in the student’s life.
It is no surprise that many students choose to write about a parent for this answer. While there is nothing wrong with that, we would encourage students to think beyond their parents for this answer-- and even beyond their nuclear family. Some of the most distinctive short answers to this question focus on a friend, teammate, colleague, teacher, coach, community or religious leader, among others. In selecting whom to write about-- and what to say about them-- students should consider what they admire about this person. Which of the students’ values does this person embody? What qualities in this person might the student want to emulate? What has this person’s actions and/or words taught the student?
As with all of these short answers, remember that Texas A&M is interested, above all, in getting to know the student better. When students write about an important individual in their life, they are also giving the admissions committee a deeper sense of the kind of person they are.
